US: Protect Louisiana, Texas land for rare burrowing snake

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The U.S. government says four areas in Louisiana and two in Texas should be protected as critical habitat for a rare snake that eats small gophers and takes over their burrows. Louisiana pinesnakes have been listed as threatened since 2018, largely due to the loss of sandy longleaf pine savannas. National forests make up the bulk of four areas that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed as critical habitat. But the largest is nearly all private land in north Louisiana, home to the snakes’ largest population. The smallest, in Scrappin’ Valley, Texas, is all privately owned.  A private biologist says it’s already being managed for an endangered woodpecker that also needs open-canopy longleaf pine forests with grassy floors.